Research

Created by on 6/27/2016 8:47:27 PMThe slogan of the city of Surrey is: “The Future Lives Here.” Indeed, the future does live here. In 2011, Surrey had a population of 468,251; an 18.6% change since 2006.[i] Surrey is a city that is constantly changing and developing. It is also a city of diversity; both ethnically and religiously. What can we learn about the church in the midst of this thriving environment?

According to our records there are 240 Christian churches in Surrey. In 2011, we asked these churches for their average worship service attendance. We received data from 111 of the 240 churches in Surrey (46.25%) totaling an average worship service attendance of 25,480, or 229.54 people per church. If we assume that the average of 229.54 people per church is representative of all of the churches in Surrey, we can estimate that there are 55,089 people attending church, or 11.76% of the population.

According to the 2011 National Household Survey, 37.8% of the population of Surrey affiliate themselves with Christianity, 28.2% have no religious identity and 32.81% affiliate themselves with a religion other than Christianity. The majority of Christians in Surrey are Protestant (61.7%). But, the largest Christian tradition in Surrey is Catholicism, followed by those who associate themselves with a non-mainstream Protestant tradition.

Amongst those that identify themselves as being Christian, or claim no religious affiliation, it is interesting to note the differences between the male population and the female population. Of those that identify themselves as being Christian, 46.68% are male and 53.31% are female. Similarly, of those that claim no religious affiliation, 53.31% are male and 46.68% are female. When one looks closely at these numbers, one can see that the percentages are the same but they are used to represent either the male or female portion of the population depending on the variable.

Surrey is the city of the future. These religious affiliation stats show us that in Surrey there is only a 5% difference between Christians and those identifying with a religion other than Christianity and a less than 10% difference between Christians and non-Christians, Surrey is the city not only of the future but of diverse possibility.

[i] Note that population data from the 2011 Census and the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) is used for Religious Affiliation comparisons.